The Dual Nature of Man

My brethren and sisters, man in his creation is a dual being. There is a spiritual side to his nature and there is a temporal side, and with respect to this matter I desire to give expression to the thought that is in my mind. ¶

THE DUAL NATURE OF MAN ¶

If you will pardon me for being personal, I will say that for the last seventy-three years I have been partaking of food, and every time I sit down to a meal of victuals, if I address myself to the occasion with a good appetite and the food is properly prepared, I enjoy it. It contributes to my body. It is pleasant, refreshing and healthful. ¶

Now, the elements that were in the food that I have partaken of are about the same, and yet when the food is prepared in a variety of different ways and made inviting to the taste it accomplishes the purpose. If I refrain from taking food into my mortal body, the body will die. ¶

What I have said of the body is equally applicable to the spirit. We come to meeting and sit down at the table of the Lord, so to speak, and partake of spiritual food. We have had a most wonderful spectacle in this General Conference. Yesterday the people assembled in great numbers and sat and listened with rapt attention to what was said. Why did they come to the meeting? They came in order to get spiritual food, and they appeared to enjoy it and to be well satisfied at the conclusion of the services. It almost appeared from their attitude that they were indeed perfectly satisfied and would require no more of such food. But here they are again today, the same people, with an appetite for more food to strengthen their spiritual natures. ¶

This seems wonderful to me, but it is comprehensible and it is true. ¶

THE GOSPEL EVERLASTING AND EVER-INTERESTING ¶

Now, with respect to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have been listening to the preaching of the Gospel for an hundred years. It has not changed in principle, or theory, or practice, one iota in all that period of time. We are led to believe, and we surely do believe, that it will never change. It is an everlasting Gospel, and yet when these glorious doctrines such as faith, repentance and baptism, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and other principles of the Gospel — I say when they are presented to us from different viewpoints, combined with the particular characteristics of the speakers, their ¶

manner of delivery, etc., we become interested, and what we hear seems to be new to us and is acceptable and pleasant. And yet, as I have already said, there isn't any change at all in the scheme of salvation. ¶

It may be, my brethren and sisters, in my remarks this afternoon that I shall touch upon some principle or principles that have been emphasized in this Conference. If so, I hope to approach them at a little different angle from that which you have heard, so that you will not become weary and tired, but may be profited. ¶

A SACRED VOLUME OF SCRIPTURE ¶

I have in my hand the Pearl of Great Price, which is a sacred volume of scripture. It is one of the standard works of the Church, and in its teachings, it is in perfect harmony with the Holy Bible. The title page reads as follows: ¶

"The Pearl of Great Price — selections from the revelations, translations and narrations of Joseph Smith, the first prophet, seer and revelator to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." ¶

So, in part, what is found in this book, is a veritable pearl of great value. It was translated by Joseph Smith the Prophet from parchment, or papyrus, which came down from ancient times and was found enclosed with a mummy. It is a record which is well worth the careful attention of the world. ¶

AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT WORK ¶

In this book there is a sentence which has already been quoted in our Conference and which I am disposed to repeat, wherein the Lord says : ¶

"This is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." ¶

Brother Whitney, I think, emphasized these words, and others have referred to them. Well, now, brethren and sisters, let me say to you that in my opinion the work thus referred to is the greatest and most important and most vital work in which God is engaged. Why is it so extremely important that he should bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man? It is for this reason: God himself is eternal, God is the "Father of the spirits of all flesh." Our earthly parents furnish our bodies, and our Heavenly Parents furnish our spirits, and the spirit and the body joined together constitute the soul of man. Hence the children of men are living souls. It so appears from the very beginning, at the time of man's creation. The record says : "God created man of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul." He was never a living soul until that moment. What was he? A living spirit — whose habitation was in heaven. But when the body was created from the dust of the earth God put the spirit into the body, and man became a living soul, a child of God. It is not to be wondered at that God is interested in man. It is not to be wondered at that he desires his salvation. ¶

SAVING PRINCIPLES ¶

Now, God is a pure and holy being, and in order that man might be saved it is highly essential that he should become like God. And if that be the case, it is imperative that man should repent of his sins and do works of righteousness, and until such time as this is brought about man cannot be saved. No impure or unholy thing can come into the presence of God and dwell there. This emphasizes powerfully the importance of the doctrine of repentance. ¶

And then if you put forth the saving principle of repentance there must be something to go with it. It is not complete in itself. It is not sufficient that a man shall repent of his sins. There still remains the weight of sin upon his soul. There must be some way to remove the weight of sin from his soul. God has provided the means, and it consists of baptism, baptism by water, by immersion, in the name of Jesus Christ, administered by one having authority, for the remission of sins. All conditions being equal, when the man comes forth from the water of baptism, his sins are washed away absolutely. If they are not washed away baptism is a mockery in the sight of God. If it does not accomplish this purpose there is nothing to it. But we maintain that it does, and the effect of baptism properly administered is apparent at once. That is, mark you, if it is a complete baptism, and it is not complete if it has to do with the water simply and nothing further. ¶

A NEW BIRTH ¶

Baptism, like many other things, is dual in character. There are two vital features connected with it. There is the baptism by water, or the birth by water, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, and there is the baptism of the Spirit, or the birth by Spirit. What kind of baptism is the baptism by the Spirit? the Christian world might ask. Do yon not know, ye men of the world, ye ministers of the Gospel, do ye not know what the birth of the Spirit is? If you do not let me enlighten you and say that it is the gift of the Holy Ghost, which comes upon a man by the laying on of hands of one having authority, and the gift is transmitted to the baptized believer. He is enveloped, buried as it were, in that spirit and power, the power of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, that brings to his memory things present, things past, and things to come. ¶

This is a complete baptism and it is described by the Savior as a new birth. We are born into the world. That is the first birth with which we have to do. What a wonderful thing that is ! What a tremendous privilege, that we were permitted to come into the world and take upon ourselves these bodies. And so now if we are to come into the Church and Kingdom 'of God it must be by some such means as birth. We must be born into the Kingdom of God. We cannot walk into it ; we cannot run or jump into it, or drop into it, or grow up into it ; we must be born into it. We must go through the door, and the door is baptism. ¶

SALVATION IN NO OTHER WAY ¶

You see that there is reason and logic in this great principle that is treated lightly by some people in the world, some people who say, "yes, yes, that is very well, if you want baptism you may have it; some of the churches will give it to you if you want it. If you do not want it you are at liberty to let it alone. You can have it or not as you please." But the Latter-day Saints say it is a vital principle of the Gospel and it cannot be set aside and must not be ignored. And so surely as the sun shines and truly as we live, no man or woman can come into the Church and Kingdom of God and be saved in his presence without passing through the door. ¶

FULFILLING AN IMPORTANT OBLIGATION ¶

Having passed through the door of baptism into the Kingdom this is just the initial step. We simply have the means, the blessing and the gift to become acquainted with the things of God, to grow in understanding, in knowledge and wisdom. And let me tell you of one thing — there are many things of course — but one very vital principle I would like to emphasize for a moment before I sit down. It was brought to my mind as I left the meeting this morning. ¶

I met a good sister who offered her hand and said to me : ¶

"Brother Clawson, don't you recognize me?" ¶

I said to her, "Yes, of course I recognize you, but for the moment I am unable to call your name. Your face is familiar to me." ¶

"Well," she said, "Brother Clawson you might forget me but I shall never forget you, because you once presided over me and over my people in the Box Elder Stake. My name is so-and-so." ¶

I said : "Surely it is, I recognize you now perfectly. How is your health? You are looking very fine, in fact, you have quite a youthful appearance." ¶

She said : "Brother Clawson, my health is very good, and do you know, I have had quite a family of children." "How many have you had?" ¶

She answered : "I have had twelve children and they are all living." Then I said to her : "Are they doing well ? Are they good children ?" She said, "Yes." ¶

I said to her : "You are very fortunate, you are a blessed woman, because you have given heed to that first great commandment that was given to Adam in the garden of Eden, when God said unto him and unto Eve, 'Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.' That was the obligation put upon Adam, and that is the obligation that rests upon his children." ¶

A PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD ¶

Then I said to her, "Do you know what that means? It means you have met this obligation, that you have fulfilled this great duty in life. It means that you have entered into a partnership with God Almighty. Now, that seems like strong language to use, to say that a ¶

mortal man, or a mortal woman, has entered into partnership with the Lord. But it is true, for the Lord is the Creator of the souls of men, and it takes the spirit and the body to make a soul, a living soul. You and your good husband have created mortal bodies for twelve beings, twelve souls. That is your work, and God has contributed twelve living, eternal spirits and put them into those bodies. So you have become a partner with him. You occupy a very different position, entirely different to many of those grand ladies in the world, so denominated, so thought to be, with their wealth and their culture and their opportunities. These grand ladies seem to be satisfied and content to put their affections, and the affections of the human heart are very wonderful, upon the lower animals — dogs, cats, and monkeys." ¶

I said, "I have wondered many times what would be the feeling of these people that I am speaking of who are blessed with mortal bodies, when they appear before the bar of God and stand there convicted of not having been willing to meet the great obligation of marriage which was instituted to people the earth." ¶

ADVICE CONCERNING MARRIAGE ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, this is an extremely interesting and important matter because the Latter-day Saints, and particularly the authorities of the Church, favor marriage. We advise our young people to marry when they have reached a proper and suitable age. Young ladies are marriageable at eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two, and later on. Young men at twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four, twenty-five and later on. It is their duty to go forth and honor this law of God. We say to them, be very careful and keep yourselves pure and undefiled. We say to the young men of Israel, be careful in selecting your companions. Make it a subject of prayer and much thought. Seek women of faith, women of pure lives ; and then be sure, be very sure that you are in love with the women you espouse and hope to marry. I would not say to love them with all your heart and soul, because that belongs to God. That duty is to him alone. But be sure you love the young woman sincerely and truly, and be sure that she is a good woman. Then, we would say to the young woman in making her choice : Be ye equally careful. Be sure the young man is of good character, pure in his life, that he is a young man of faith; and after all be very sure that you love him. Without love there could be no lasting happiness between husband and wife. Love is very binding in its nature and will help to hold them together. ¶

FOR TIME ONLY OR FOR ETERNITY? ¶

Then I should ask a couple if I were advising them, "What kind of marriage are you contracting? Is it a civil marriage or a temple marriage?" If a civil marriage, I should say: "Well that is a good marriage, that is legal. The United States of America stands behind the civil marriage. It is not the best marriage for you, however. There is another marriage that is far superior, and it is the Temple marriage. ¶

The Temple marriage is very different in character to the civil marriage." I would say to them : "You must remember, if you are married by the law of the land the contract holds good only until death, at which time the bond is broken. On the other hand, if you are married in the Temple the contract holds good for this life and the life to come, and you will have a claim on each other in that future life that cannot be had by the civil law." ¶

The young man or young woman might say : "Well, Brother Clawson, I have heard that people who are married by the civil law, members of the Church, when they come up in the resurrection, will find the civil ceremony to be of no virtue or force. Is that true?" I would answer, "Yes, it is absolutely true." ¶

The girl might then say, "Well, I cannot subscribe to that idea. I cannot believe God would be so unkind as to separate me from my husband. I love him. He loves me. We love our children. Surely God will not separate us, will he?" ¶

And I would say, "No, of course the Lord won't separate you. No, he is too kind and merciful for that. You have separated yourselves. God would bind you together by his law, but you will not permit it, so that you have already separated yourselves for the other world." ¶

She might persist in saying, "I do not believe it." ¶

Well, now, in conclusion I would say to her: "Let me refer you to a paragraph in the one hundred and thirty-second section of the Doctrine and Covenants (the thirteenth verse)." God, in speaking to Joseph Smith, his prophet, said : ¶

"Everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God. ¶

"For whatsoever things remain are by me ; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed." ¶

I would say to the young lady, "Mark it well. The Temple marriage is of God and therefore it is one of the things that cannot be shaken or thrown down." ¶

Let all the young men of Israel, and all the young women of Israel, whether they are married or single, remember that the Temple marriage will stand in the eternities to come when no other marriage will stand. ¶

God bless you, in the name of Jesus, Amen. ¶